VIEWPOINT: THE CONCEALED HANDGUN LAW: TEN YEARS LATER By Hon. Jerry Patterson

When the Texas Concealed Handgun Law took effect in 1996, pundits and naysayers predicted anarchy. Any minute, there would surely be mass violence as armed Texas citizens began roving the streets settling arguments with gunfire. Certainly, several proclaimed, within a year there would be blood in the streets as Texas returned to the days of the Wild West.

Ten years later the facts paint a different picture. Texas under the Concealed Handgun Law isnt the Wild West, but the Mild West. No recurrent shootouts at four-way stops, no blood in the streets. Quite the contrary, Texans are safer than before.

But why are we safer? Why did the fears of the naysayers fail to materialize?

One of the reasons I authored Senate Bill 60, the Concealed Handgun Law, was because I trust my fellow Texans. Contrary to opinions expressed on almost every editorial page across the state, I knew that when law-abiding Texans constitutional right to keep and bear arms was restored with the passage of S.B. 60, they would exercise good judgment and behave responsibly.

Ten years later, and the statistics continue to prove the point.

Since the passage of the Concealed Handgun Law, the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows an 18% drop in handgun murders, down from 838 in 1995 to 688 in 2004. And a 13% drop in handgun murders per 100,000 population, down from 4.5 murders per 100,000 Texans in 1995 to 3.95 per 100,000 in 2004.

In 2000, on the fifth anniversary of the Concealed Handgun Law, the National Center for Policy Analysis issued a report that indicated Texans with concealed carry permits are far less likely to commit a serious crime than the average citizen.

According to the report, the more than 200,000 Texans licensed to carry a concealed firearm are much more law-abiding than the average person.

The report illustrated that Texans who exercise their right to carry firearms are 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for a violent offense. They are 14 times less likely to be arrested for a non-violent offense. And they are 1.4 times less likely to be arrested for murder.

H. Sterling Burnett, a senior policy analyst at the NCPA and the author of the report, concluded:

Many predicted that minor incidents would escalate into bloody shootouts if Texas passed a concealed-carry law. That prediction was dead wrong, Burnett said.

With 247,345 concealed handgun licenses active in Texas as of December 2005, the number of law-abiding licensees has had a positive effect on the crime rate.

Texas Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Report indicates the overall crime rate in Texas has continued to drop over the past 10 years. In 1997, DPS reported 5,478 crimes per 100,000 Texans, based on a population of 19,355,427 Texans. In 2004, with almost 3 million more Texans, the crime rate is 5,032 per 100,000.

The effect of the Concealed Handgun Law has been so positive, it has converted some of its most outspoken initial critics.

John Holmes, former Harris County district attorney, wrote to me several years after the passage of the law.

As you know, I was very outspoken in my opposition to the passage of the Concealed Handgun Act. I did not feel that such legislation was in the public interest and presented a clear and present danger to law abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets, Holmes wrote. Boy was I wrong. Our experience in Harris County , and indeed state-wide, has proven my initial fears absolutely groundless.

Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, shared this view. I lobbied against the law in 1993 and 1995 because I thought it would lead to wholesale armed conflict. That hasn't happened, White told the Dallas Morning News. All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn't happen. No bogeyman. I think it's worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I'm a convert.

To the supporters of individual liberty and the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, this outcome is no surprise. However, the Concealed Handgun Law isnt just about personal safety. Perhaps even deeper than its roots in constitutional freedom, the Concealed Handgun Law is about trust.

And after ten years, the Concealed Handgun Law is a shining example of what happens when elected officials have faith in their fellow Texans.

The legacy of Senate Bill 60 is grounded in the concept that our government should place its trust in us, not the other way around.

I knew that when law-abiding Texans constitutional right to keep and bear arms was restored...

I'm glad that we now have "shall issue" carry in TX, thanks in no small part to Patterson, but if we truly had our "constitutional right to keep and bear arms" restored, we wouldn't have to apply and pay for permission to do so.

Since the passage of the Concealed Handgun Law, the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows an 18% drop in handgun murders, down from 838 in 1995 to 688 in 2004. And a 13% drop in handgun murders per 100,000 population, down from 4.5 murders per 100,000 Texans in 1995 to 3.95 per 100,000 in 2004.

Too bad the sheeple the City/County of San Francisco, CA weren't smart enough to learn from Texas' success. About 60% of them voted to ban handguns all together.

No, no, no...guns kill people. Didn't you get the DNC talking points memo today? More guns = more dead people, plain and simple. Didn't you get Teddy's memo? You know, that murderer that's killed more people with his car than I have with my assault rifle.

Indeed. Many years ago my wife worked in an office with the wife of the City's Chief of Detectives-- there was not one woman family member of his who didn't have a sidearm. Sometimes several- purse, glovebox, office desk. And I cannot think of a single policeman I've known whose families were not similarly equipped- the Good Guys know there is no substitute for being armed- just in case.

What I would like to see are the real figures on crimes that were most often committed by unarmed felons, against unarmed citizens, before and after CCW laws were passed.

Car-jackings fit that bill quite well in my opinion, and the stats wouldn't be muddled by crimes of passion, gang related crap, etc.

Car-jackings were all the rage 10-15 years ago and most often it was thugs yanking an unarmed person out of their car at a red light, and the criminals themselves weren't armed, just bigger/stronger.

I know for a fact that car-jackings in Detroit dropped like a stone after Mi. passed its "must issue law", but you'll never see the MSM or the police chiefs putting the before/after stats out there for all to see.

Do that study and compile the stats, and we can stuff them up the anti-gunners a$$.

I certainly agree- the stats we see bandied about are not telling the whole story. We all know how the Brady Bunch has stretched the definition of "children," and I recall from a post on Small Dead Animals the crime rate comparisons between the US and Canada are hard to factor because their "homicide rate" is based on convictions, whereas ours includes deaths by police action and other broader measures.

Carjackings probably are a better indicator- also "Hot Burglaries," because even the dumbest burglar knows that if a person has only one weapon, it's almost certainly in the house with them.

"...if we truly had our "constitutional right to keep and bear arms" restored, we wouldn't have to apply and pay for permission to do so."

That is THE major problem with CCW laws. Any time you need to get a "permit" to do something that is a "right" guaranteed by the Constitution, the powers to be who issued the "permit" can withdraw the same. So much for the "Right to keep and Bear Arms".

But if we could present before/after facts on crimes that were most often committed by unarmed felons before, and after ccw laws passed and those crimes dropped by a wide margin, It would prove beyond a doubt that armed citizens are the cause of that drop in crime.

The anti's sure as hell couldn't try to spin that into saying that stolen cars/SUV's are worth less now...lol

Agreed. When I saw this over at Dallas Blog, I knew it should be posted here. I didn't even know it was the ten-year anniversary, and as the author points out, the sky has not fallen....far from it. It's always great when we see evidence of lessened gun control laws helping us.

Carjackings in Florida just about ended for local folks but skyrocketed for rental cars in South Florida because foreign tourists drove most of them and they were obvioiusly not armed. The license tags were then changed so that rental status is not visible on the tag and that stopped, too. That was the year Florida almost lost its foreign tourist trade.

41
posted on 01/05/2006 2:51:36 PM PST
by arthurus
(Better to fight them OVER THERE than over here.)

When will the conservatives get it? To the liberals the criminals are the good guys. The most forthright about this were the Communists in Russia who classed common criminals as "social allies" who had to be locked up from time time when they became inconvenient but were useful in keeping the population scared.

42
posted on 01/05/2006 2:54:13 PM PST
by arthurus
(Better to fight them OVER THERE than over here.)

This is a very interesting article, and not surprising in light of John Lott's research.

And I did some research on the Wild West for my first novel (set in 1870's Colorado). The shooting that was done was to enforce the law (at a time when the representatives of the law were few and far between) and stop the (few in number) outlaws that were terrorizing innocent citizens.

It wasn't like people were just shooting each other up for the heck of it.

There was one story I loved about a woman who had a small handgun--was it called the Ladies' Equalizer?--and pulled it out to stop an accused criminal when he tried to bust out of his trial.

I will look it up--I sent the book I had on this ("The Gunslingers," I think it's called--a gorgeous coffee table book with lots of great pictures and history) to a friend of mine whose grandfather was a Wyoming rodeo champion.

The clarification of home defense law took place about then too IIRC, the so-called "make my day" provision arrived. Home invasions dropped as a result, rarely read about them now and if you do it's usually between druggies.

I had the pleasure of living in Texas for about six months. I love people in the South--so friendly and polite--though they do have their East/West barbecue dispute, LOL! (my boyfriend was from North Carolina).

In any case, this article is certainly timely, given the City of Ottawa's voluntary "illegal gun" handover, set to begin next week, I believe.

I was just shaking my head. Tell me what criminal is going to "hand over their guns, no questions asked."

Ottawa is saying, "if it saves even one life, isn't it worth it?"

Well, I would like to throw that argument back at them. Take a good look at the actual research on what happens when the government takes guns away from law-abiding citizens and then answer that question.

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